Cheapest software anywhere???

dank-photo · March 19, 2008

Hello all...I have been looking for a cheap, legal version of Photoshop CS3 for a while now, and finally came across www.cheapestsoftwareanywhere.com where they have it priced for $150...The site seems legit, and they explain very well how they are able to sell these programs so cheap...but it also sounds too good to be true...what do you think? Any input on this would be great. Also, I apologize if this is in the wrong forum...I'm still a little new at this...please be kind and move it to the right place if need be. Thanks.

-DK

www.dank-photo.com

System · March 19, 2008

$150 for a $650 program....I am guessing it's a pirate copy.

pathfinder · March 19, 2008

They even state that you may not get the "original disk" but a copy with a software key..........

Sounds rather doubtful to me. If you decide to buy let us know how it works out.

ccpickre · March 19, 2008

That's cheaper than my student discount, and I was able to get Win XPpro for 5 bucks at my school. My school has good deals, but $150 is surprising to me .

ziggy53 · March 19, 2008

I would recommend against this site. The domain has only been active since Feb 26 of this year (2008) and the domain is registered to a "Jaime Snyder" who lists their e-mail as "jaiwhe2001@yahoo.com".

I'm sorry but any business that uses a yahoo e-mail account for primary contact is probably not legit.

Most of the advertising this person is doing is on CraigsList postings and a search in Google against the phrase "jaiwhe2001" shows this dude doing a lot of scouting for people to post on the CraigsList:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&um=1&q=%22jaiwhe2001%22&sa=N&tab=nw
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=cheapestsoftwareanywhere.com+%2Bcraigslist&btnG=Search

quark · March 20, 2008

Try the GIMP. It is legit free software and many folks on the forum use it to do everything the expensive toys do.

dusty-dog · March 20, 2008

I second the GIMP suggestion. It's an extremely powerful tool, supposedly has everything that PS has, and it's open source. I have in on my computer, but I use CS3, because I got it from my employer, as I do lots of image editing at home for them. I'm so used to the PS interface that I just never got comfortable with GIMP's. If I had to, I sure would. It's a great program.

Pupator · March 20, 2008

I'd also recommend PSP (Corel Paint Shop Pro). Really good software and you can often find the newest version for ~$50. There's very little that Photoshop can do that PSP can't.

ziggy53 · March 20, 2008

I'll cast another vote for the GIMP and also for RAW Therapee. The Gimp is fine for 8 bit processing and, if you haven't tried it recently, now has an interface fairly close to PhotoShop.

It lacks 16 bit processing and limited color spaces, but it allows:

Levels
Curves
Masks
Layers
Clone and Healing

... and many other features I desire and require.

RAW Therapee can also work on many bitmap formats beyond RAW and does allow 16 bit processing, so you can do a tremendous amount of the front work on images in RAW Therapee and then switch to the GIMP for refinement and finishing.

For Windows:
http://www.rawtherapee.com/
http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html

For Mac, go here and search for GIMP and match the results against your platform:

http://www.macports.org/ports.php

For Mac RAW conversion it looks like "Rawker" is a popular, but simple, option, as is UFRaw. I haven't tested these so I can't comment on usability.

dank-photo · March 20, 2008

Thank you for all of the help everybody....Unfortunately I had already ordered before joining here, and am expecting it to get here today or tomorrow, hopefully. I am definitely going to look into the GIMP some more as well....(I'm just so comfortable with the CS interface from school) I will post again once I receive cs3 and let you all know how the transaction went...thanks again for all the replies.

-DK

www.dank-photo.com

danbrew · March 20, 2008

dank-photo wrote:

Thank you for all of the help everybody....Unfortunately I have already ordered, and am expecting it to get here today or tomorrow, hopefully. I am definitely going to look into the GIMP some more as well....(I'm just so comfortable with the CS interface from school) I will post again once I receive cs3 and let you all know how the transaction went...thanks again for all the replies.

-DK

www.dank-photo.com

Well... What did your mamma tell you about if it's too good to be true and all that? Since you don't mind having a pirated copy, you should have just searched the file sharing sites and downloaded a copy with a serial number. That's all Jamie did - if in fact he did more that just post a website for suckers. You may very well get a link to a download site or a DVD in the mail or whatever. Maybe. But I've just spent the last four minutes reading this thread and have found a dozen warez sites where you could download the same thing.

I certainly don't condone stealing software - which is what you've tried to do. It remains to be seen whether you'll actually get anything for your efforts. But what is certain is that you have done two really really bad things. You've provided $150 to some knucklehead and neither Adobe nor their shareholders will see any of that money. The second dumb thing that you've done is you've provided some sort of your financial information to a known scammer. Whether it was paypal info, a credit card, banking info, whatever. I can think of loads of people with whom I would feel comfortable sharing my personal financial information. Jaime Snyder isn't one of them. I predict that it won't be long before somebody tries to use that same financial information to get the rest of your money.

dank-photo · March 20, 2008

danbrew wrote:

Well... this will certainly come across the wrong way, but you're a moron. What did your mamma tell you about if it's too good to be true and all that? Since you don't mind having a pirated copy, you should have just searched the file sharing sites and downloaded a copy with a serial number. That's all Jamie did - if in fact he did more that just post a website for suckers. You may very well get a link to a download site or a DVD in the mail or whatever. Maybe. But I've just spent the last four minutes reading this thread and have found a dozen warez sites where you could download the same thing.

I certainly don't condone stealing software - which is what you've tried to do. It remains to be seen whether you'll actually get anything for your efforts. But what is certain is that you have done two really really bad things. You've provided $150 to some knucklehead and neither Adobe nor their shareholders will see any of that money. The second dumb thing that you've done is you've provided some sort of your financial information to a known scammer. Whether it was paypal info, a credit card, banking info, whatever. I can think of loads of people with whom I would feel comfortable sharing my personal financial information. Jaime Snyder isn't one of them. I predict that it won't be long before somebody tries to use that same financial information to get the rest of your money.

Well, I honestly can't disagree w/ you that this may have been a moronic move...however I resent the fact that you say I have been trying to "steal" software, because this is not at all the case. I'm not looking for a dowloadable, pirated copy. I don't condone stealing either, and would never...so lay off. Obviously you do though, since you know where all the warez sites are. I just graduated school and was looking for a cheap, (has to be legal to start business) copy of CS3. After talking to some friends (before joining this forum, unfortunately), I had decided to order from CSA. I don't want to sound like I'm full of excuses here, because I'm not....my only excuse is ignorance. First of all, how can a pirated copy be registered or upgradeable? Secondly, I don't know where to search for a domain registry to find out if this guy is a scammer. Lastly, this guy doesn't have much to get at anyway, and I'm hoping my fraud protection from my bank will work just fine for unexplained transactions (which there haven't been).

pathfinder · March 20, 2008

Dank,

When you get the software, ( for the sake of argument I will assume this ) please report back with your experience with it. Is it in original packaging? Were you able to register it with Adobe, and can you get Adobe's update as well? Did you have any surprises with your fiscal transaction.

I am old school and genuinely believe that there is no such thing as a free lunch, but if CSA sells genuine, legal software there will be a clamoring market for it. Good luck!

dank-photo · March 20, 2008

pathfinder wrote:

Dank,

When you get the software, ( for the sake of argument I will assume this ) please report back with your experience with it. Is it in original packaging? Were you able to register it with Adobe, and can you get Adobe's update as well? Did you have any surprises with your fiscal transaction.

I am old school and genuinely believe that there is no such thing as a free lunch, but if CSA sells genuine, legal software there will be a clamoring market for it. Good luck!

I will surely report back, pathfinder...I am going to put in a call to Adobe once I receive it, to make sure it is legal, update-able, and register-able. I too believe that there is no such thing as a free lunch...but I'm nearly broke and desperate at this point, and have been w/o photoshop since May! I couldn't stand it anymore. It needs me:D

-DK

ccpickre · March 20, 2008

dank-photo wrote:

Well, I honestly can't disagree w/ you that this may have been a moronic move...however I resent the fact that you say I have been trying to "steal" software, because this is not at all the case. I'm not looking for a dowloadable, pirated copy. I don't condone stealing either, and would never...so lay off. Obviously you do though, since you know where all the warez sites are. I just graduated school and was looking for a cheap, (has to be legal to start business) copy of CS3. After talking to some friends (before joining this forum, unfortunately), I had decided to order from CSA...all of whom have received what they have ordered. I don't want to sound like I'm full of excuses here, because I'm not....my only excuse is ignorance. First of all, how can a pirated copy be registered or upgradeable? Secondly, I don't know where to search for a domain registry to find out if this guy is a scammer. Lastly, this guy doesn't have much to get at anyway, and I'm hoping my fraud protection from my bank will work just fine for unexplained transactions (which there haven't been).

Scam companies don't send the product, if they steal your CC#. At least not the ones I've heard of.

Although maybe he's selling Beta copies?

ccpickre · March 20, 2008

danbrew wrote:

Well... What did your mamma tell you about if it's too good to be true and all that? Since you don't mind having a pirated copy, you should have just searched the file sharing sites and downloaded a copy with a serial number. That's all Jamie did - if in fact he did more that just post a website for suckers. You may very well get a link to a download site or a DVD in the mail or whatever. Maybe. But I've just spent the last four minutes reading this thread and have found a dozen warez sites where you could download the same thing.

I certainly don't condone stealing software - which is what you've tried to do. It remains to be seen whether you'll actually get anything for your efforts. But what is certain is that you have done two really really bad things. You've provided $150 to some knucklehead and neither Adobe nor their shareholders will see any of that money. The second dumb thing that you've done is you've provided some sort of your financial information to a known scammer. Whether it was paypal info, a credit card, banking info, whatever. I can think of loads of people with whom I would feel comfortable sharing my personal financial information. Jaime Snyder isn't one of them. I predict that it won't be long before somebody tries to use that same financial information to get the rest of your money.

You've done 2 things as well.

1. You've completely ignored the fact that there may be some legitimacy to this transaction.

2. Ignored the fact that it's quite possible some programmer from Amazon, or Walmart, or Ebay, could just as easily steal personal info from their sites. Yet people trust those sites because of a simple logo that says "you can trust us because we have a cool logo that says you can"

He didn't steal the software because he bought it cheap. All he did was look the for the best deal for his budget. Which is the biggest part of the capitalistic ideal, that you yourself berated him about when you brought up how the company and shareholders won't see a dime. Capitalism, what a wonderful thing.

Jamie Snyder is the guy you should be yelling at (assuming this guy proves to be a fake). Not Dank.

pathfinder · March 20, 2008

dank-photo wrote:

I will surely report back, pathfinder...I am going to put in a call to Adobe once I receive it, to make sure it is legal, update-able, and register-able. If not, hopefully I can find a way to put CSA out of business. I too believe that there is no such thing as a free lunch...but I'm nearly broke and desperate at this point, and have been w/o photoshop since May! I couldn't stand it anymore. It needs me:D

-DK

Dank, like a politician, " I feel your pain!":D

and I mean that in a good way too.

I hope this transaction works out fine, but as Ziggy pointed out better than I did, I am skeptical. That certainly does not mean I am correct. I can appreciate how you miss Photoshop, I would be just as bad, and I would desperately want to get it back.

You might explore Gimp as an alternative also. Picture Window Pro was another software package Norman Koren used to recommend also, and I think it was $79.95 or so.

I hope to keep this thread on a civil level among all participants. You were not stealing, you did pay the asking price. I wish the best for you.
***********************************
Dan, I missed the connection earlier - You posted a few images on the Bokeh thread in the Technique forum - I was perusing your gallery -- www.dank-photo.com - and recognized the images I had seen before. Nice work, you deserve access to a legitimate copy of PS.

Folks should check your gallery out too.

i_worship_the_King · March 20, 2008

There are also new (beta) web based tools.

http://a.viary.com/

I think I have a few invites if you're interested.

pathfinder · March 20, 2008

i_worship_the_King wrote:

There are also new (beta) web based tools.

http://a.viary.com/

I think I have a few invites if you're interested.

Woodpecker is listed as a smart image resizer that uses SEAM carving. Is that kind of what was reported in the last year that allowed removal of parts of an image - like one person from a row of four - and seamlessly blended the rest of the image back together?

Will these tools replace Photoshop or other desktop image editing tools in the near future?

Art Scott · March 20, 2008

dank-photo wrote:

I will surely report back, pathfinder...I am going to put in a call to Adobe once I receive it, to make sure it is legal, update-able, and register-able. If not, hopefully I can find a way to put CSA out of business. I too believe that there is no such thing as a free lunch...but I'm nearly broke and desperate at this point, and have been w/o photoshop since May! I couldn't stand it anymore. It needs me:D

-DK

When that software arrives take a look to see if there is a wordpad doc (read me file)...ifthere is check that and see if ti tells you not to install while hooked to the internet.....notmally PS wants to register as it is installing.....if the readme states to tic register by mail...then you may have a prob with adobe.......

I got a real cheap copy of PSCS while in Prague from a software store...came home and installed it...went to register it and got all kinds of pop ups from adobe.....when I finally emailed them and gave them the key code..well it got registered and I have gotten all updates... the pop ups stated that the software was not from this area.....okay it stated it was PSCS CE (CE = Central European version).......but it is legal and still working and at the time the US$ was somewhat strong and I gave under a $100 as it was on sale and I talked the owner into a deeper discount for paying in the local currency and not using american plastic or Euros.........

I also bought some software from an online store that said it was OEM and that they had the right to sell as a download product and that one even registered as I was installing....that was a $900 product for $45....it updates to this day also.....there are legit cheap software companies and there are the scammers........unfortunately scammers is what has given Ebay and UBid a blackyeye....JUst be wary and listen to your gut......

Good Luck

danbrew · March 20, 2008

Boy I sure won't make any friends here, but you guys all have blinders on - every single one of you. That's about the nicest way I can say it.

As to the recent student/OP - you should have purchased a copy from your campus bookstore.

Tell you what I'll do - I'll send the OP $150 if Adobe comes back and tells him he has bought a legitimate copy that is register-able and the like. Of course the quid pro quo is that you naysayers all have to send me $150 each if they tell him it is not legit. Yeah, I thought so.

To the OP - it *is* stealing. I hope your business endeavor does not include intellectual property.

doh!

pathfinder · March 20, 2008

Cool your jets, Dan! If the software is stolen software, one cannot legally purchase it, that is correct.

But if Adobe accepts and registers this software, then, by definition, I would say it was purchased not stolen. Time will tell here.

In the meantime, I wish everyone good luck.

dank-photo · March 20, 2008

OK all...got home from work today and received it in the mail. It came in a padded envelope and crystal cd case...obviously not the original packaging..which was expected. There were 2 discs in the case..one dvd with a label that reads "CS3 Photoshop for MAC/Instructions and Key on disk 2" Disc 2 is an un-labeled C-DR.

On disc 2 there are 2 documents:

Adobe Photoshop CS3 MacOSX Serial.txt which reads:

xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx

Serial: xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx

- open HexEdit and open /Adobe Photoshop CS3.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Photoshop CS3 with HexEdit
- now push "command + j" or go to "find" then "go to address..." and type xxxxxxxxx
- now change xxxxxxxx to xxxxxxxx

*there are 2 different serials on top, and the xxxx's on bottom are combinations of letters and numbers.

The second document is:
free-hex-editor-neo.exe

-this was unable to open on my MBP, so I have not put in the 1st disc...and will not until I hear a few views on this...

I'm beginning to think I have been duped...but I'm not sure why the disc would have 2 serial#'s on it unless it were 1 for the "parent" disc and 1 for the "child" copy, of say a business that sold 1 copy with 100user account. And I can't open an .exe file on my comp.

...If I've been duped, well s*it...lesson learned.

--Thank you all for the input...I didn't know this would end up being such a hot topic.

-DK

www.dank-photo.com

dank-photo · March 20, 2008

danbrew wrote:

As to the recent student/OP - you should have purchased a copy from your campus bookstore.

To the OP - it *is* stealing. I hope your business endeavor does not include intellectual property.

doh!

-I should have purchased a copy while I was still in school, but at that time I could not afford it, and I can no longer get a student discount..

--What I've been trying to get through your head is that it was NEVER my INTENTION to steal...if it is not legit, I have no use for it, and I ate $150.

--but please inform me on how it is not possible for a company to sell a multi-user account to another company that turns it into 100 separate accounts? I'm just asking out of curiosity..'cause you probably no more about computing than I.

-DK

Icebear · March 20, 2008

[quote=dank-photo - please inform me on how it is not possible for a company to sell a multi-user account to another company that turns it into 100 separate accounts? -DK[/quote]

Prolly 'cause the licensing agreement prohibits such activity.

LUCKYSHOT · March 20, 2008

DK
$150 Isnt a lot of money for a lesson learned. I would check your CC to make sure though that no strange transactions have taken place.
Live and learn

Chris

WWW.longislandimage.smugmug.com

Pupator · March 20, 2008

Yeah, you paid $150 for the same version that's floating around the internet warez sites for free. Prices that are too good to be true always are.

What you're dealing with now is a hex editor hack to trick the software into thinking that it's registered.

What to do?

Go back to the website. Read it carefully. If it says 100% legal software and not "Backup" "archive" or some crud like that, print out the screen. Then call your credit card company and tell them you were sold illegal software and you need to do a chargeback.

The company WILL NOT dispute the credit card company's chargeback. All that's doing is asking for an investigation (which they don't want), and the only financial loss they'll have is the cost of the DVDs they burned Photoshop on.

ccpickre · March 20, 2008

Well, I have a feeling he could report it and still get his money back from his credit card company. I mean, I doubt the credit card company would like that kind of a blemish, to be involved in aiding pirates.

It technically is a fraudulent charge.

gus · March 20, 2008

ccpickre wrote:

Well, I have a feeling he could report it and still get his money back from his credit card company. I mean, I doubt the credit card company would like that kind of a blemish, to be involved in aiding pirates.

It technically is a fraudulent charge.

On the same note...what if i was to send money via CC to nigeria to some fella that emailed me last week. His father was a king & they need to get out of the country & have promised me 5 million USD.

What im saying is that i doubt a credit card could be held responsible for the owner doing something with it under the owners authority. If its stolen...then sure its fraud.

ccpickre · March 20, 2008

God Bless the Internet, and the way it's made our lives easier and richer

ivar

bow

danbrew · March 20, 2008

I should stop - but I can't resist...

Software isn't a tangible item that you can buy. I know of NO software manufacturer that SELLS its product. They LICENSE their product. They license use rights and they have the ability to specify how the software should be used. Kind of the same thing that we do.

Here are some examples...

ACADEMIC Software - used only for school, educational, etc. use. Quite clever, actually, if you teach all of the up and coming technology users how to use your products while they are in training, what are they gonna use when they graduate? Exactly. Smart marketing.

OEM Software - for sale only with the sale of a new computer. Also smart marketing. Used to build market share and penetration of a particular product in a certain category. Hugely discounted - if Dell is selling 20 million new machines, why wouldn't Microsoft (or whomever) offer a smack-daddy discount on 20,000,000 copies of Windows? Shoot. That's a no brainer.

UPGRADE Software - discounts for existing customers. They recognize that you have committed to the company/product and are rewarding you for being a long-time user.

VOLUME LICENSING - if 'ya buy more of something you get a discount. Whether that is a six pack, a pizza, or software. Most software manufacturers, though, don't allow you to aggregate your purchases across non-related/non-affiliated firms.

But I know everybody here already knew most of that.

What I've been trying to get through your head is that it was NEVER my INTENTION to steal...if it is not legit, I have no use for it, and I ate $150.

Come now, do you really expect anyone to believe that?

but please inform me on how it is not possible for a company to sell a multi-user account to another company that turns it into 100 separate accounts? I'm just asking out of curiosity..'cause you probably no more about computing than I.

Because the company doesn't have ownership rights to the software (remember, they license it - they don't purchase it & they don't own it) and they have no right to resell, lend, lease, rent, loan, etc. It's really no different than me taking a brand new $100 bill and scanning it with a great new scanner and printing 10,000 copies on that nice new color printer that I have. I can assure you I'd make plenty of copies that would fool some people. How come I don't do it? Because it's against the law.

I get that my tone has been somewhat adversarial here - that's not my intent. But we all should know what's right and what's wrong, especially since many of us are professional photographers who earn their living based upon their customers respecting your intellectual property rights. I find it exceptionally difficult to believe that one who might be able to afford a state of the art machine that is loaded and ready to run Creative Suite 3 can't afford to purchase a copy of Creative Suite. Especially given that it's reasonable to believe a creative professional could easily earn that amount in a month. Or week. Or few days. Or a day.

Finally, thank you to the anonomous person who PayPaled me $150 - I was actually kidding and didn't expect anyone to do that. But I'm still keeping it.

Cheapest software anywhere???

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